Love on the Wheelchair
by Crimson Knights
Summary: "Hyuuga! Goodbye!" Like always, he would stop and treasure those final words of the day which came directly from her mouth. He wanted to tell her that this would never be their goodbye as long as they could still see each other the following day. Their final goodbye had yet to come, and he knew it. What made them similar and closer to each other since then was their differences.
1. 1st Wheel

**Love on the Wheelchair**_  
><em>

_-2013-_

"Ah, that! I still remember where we first met. We met at one of the school exit gates and I said 'hi' to him."

"She approached me with a warm smile... and I was only eight years old at that time so I found her smile silly. I mean, who would be so happy to go to school on a Monday morning?"

"Let me tell you, the way he stared coldly at me at the corner of his eyes made my insides cringe... He totally destroyed my Pink Monday mood!"

"Who cares about Pink Monday? It's Monday Blues!"

"Guess what he said to me after I greeted him?"

"Guess what I said to her?"

_"Move. You're blocking my way, silly girl."_

**************Disclaimer: I don't own either Gakuen Alice or its characters, except for this story plot.**************

* * *

><p>1st Wheel<p>

_-2003-_

_He planted a kiss on her cheek and whispered, "Love you, Mikan."_

_She shifted her gaze away from him and looked at her knees as she felt the warmth on the spot where he had kissed spread like ripples across her cheek and to her ears. She put her knees together and let out a soft and sweet giggle to hide her awkwardness._

_"Thank you."_

Young love.

_She felt so blessed to be loved by everyone. She had great friends around her and even had an affectionate boyfriend who vowed to love and treasure her forever. She knew she was neither the most pretty girl nor the most intelligent student in her school. She had decent looks and average grades which consisted of minimal 'A's and mostly 'B's but her boyfriend, nevertheless, assured her that she would only be the one for him. She believed him, just like how he believed her when she had told him the same thing multiple times._

_"Mikan, no matter what happens to you, I will continue to be with you."_

_"Thank you."_

Childish love.

_Ever since she had started to go out with her first boyfriend, he had become very special to her. He had become her morale support and she had became his. In her eyes, he was good looking. His grade were much better than hers. She thought he would throw her aside one day if he had found another girl who had better looks and grades, but his words of love assured her that he would never betray her. She trusted his love for her._

Crippled love.

_She had desires. However, because she had her own principles to abide, she had told her boyfriend once that she would never want to go beyond the kissing stage with him before marriage and hoped that he would understand her. He had replied her with an 'okay' and she had assumed that he had understood her concerns._

Blind love.

_Furthermore, they were only_ thirteen.

-:-:-:-

_"Goodbye, Mikan. See you tomorrow!"_

_"See you, Mikan!"_

_"Mikan, remember to call me when you reach home! Let's have girls' talk."_

_"Bye, Mikan!"_

_She smiled at her four friends and bade them goodbye. She had many friends, mostly from the Fencing Club. Her fencing skills were good, not as great as a professional but could earn her the title of a champion in two competitions within the span of eight months ever since she had joined the club as a freshman. Thus, many people tried to befriend her to learn a special move or two from her. She knew that those people were not serious in befriending her but she did not mind them at all._

False friendship.

_"Goodbye!" she said to her four friends. "I will call you girls tonight."_

_The girls grinned and said their final goodbyes to her before walking away at different directions. These four girls were different from those 'fake' friends from the Fencing Club. Like her boyfriend, they supported her and helped her whenever she needed them. She loved them and believed that they felt the way as she did for them. As she stared at the backs of her four friends, her smile slowly faded and her heart started to weigh down her chest. It was only a few minutes and she was already starting to miss their presence. She wondered if they felt the same way too._

Pure friendship.

_"Excuse me."_

_Startled by a soft voice, she turned around and gasped without thinking. It was a small and skinny boy on a wheelchair. She recognised him as her schoolmate with physical disability, though she had no idea what the specific name of his condition was. They had been studying in the same elementary school and middle school for years but were never classmates so she did not really speak much to him. Being an extremely cheerful and polite person, she would always greet him with a smile whenever she saw him._

_"Hyuuga! Good evening!"_

_He remained still and quiet as his eyes moved upwards, staring intensely at her. Her lips curled upwards once more and she bent her body forward so that she could be within his eye level. She knew he had extremely weak body muscles so he could not move his head and look up at her easily._

_"How's your day, Hyuuga?" she asked with a huge grin._

Blooming friendship.

_He continued to stare at her silently before tilting the controller on his right armrest backwards, causing his wheelchair to reverse a little. The gap between them widened._

_"Excuse me."_

_"Ah..." She immediately straightened herself and stood aside. "I'm sorry."_

_He titled the controller forward and moved past her, keeping his silence as usual. He kept moving forward, totally ignoring her presence. She knew that he was not trying to be rude. After all, he was a shy person since he rarely talked to anyone. He was very different from everyone else so it was not surprising to see many 'immature' students shunning him as if his disability was infectious. Though she did not know the name of his condition, she knew that he was just like any other child... including her. He was human just like everyone, not a centre of disease which every student was thinking of._

_She crossed her arms. Teachers should really educate typical children about atypical ones if they wanted to support the idea of inclusion. If not, it was unfair._

_He did not deserve to be shunned!_

_Suddenly, the wheelchair stopped. Tilting her head a little, she wondered if he had left something behind or there was an obstacle in his path. Be it the former or the latter, she had to help him since she was the only student there with him near the school gate. She took a step forward, preparing to call out to him but before a sound could escape from her mouth, the wheelchair started moving again. She stopped and stared at the diminishing figure before her._

_"Oh..." she let out a soft sigh and smiled brightly again. "Hyuuga, goodbye! Have a safe trip back home!"_

_Again, there was no response from him. With that, she turned around and walked away._

Golden friendship.

_"Hmm..." She looked up to the sky while her smile did not cease. "What should I have for dinner later?"_

-:-:-:-

Her head hurt.

"Sakura? Can you hear me?"

Her surrounding was so noisy that her ears began to hurt.

"Mikan Sakura?"

Her shoulders were heavy.

"Can you hear me?"

Her tongue felt rough, as if sand had been applied over it.

"How are you feeling?"

She slowly opened her eyes but immediately squinted at the bright light above her.

"She's awakening."

Her eyes hurt.

Everything seemed to hurt. But she needed to smile... like always.

"Ah... I... f... fine," her voice came out hoarse and cracking due to her dry throat as she forced her chapped lips to curl upwards as usual. "Wh... Who..."

"Sakura, I'm your doctor."

This time, her eyes snapped open but she shut them close again. Her eyes were so dry and she was not used to the glaring light. It seemed as though she had not been in the light for days.

_For days..._

"I'm sure you've realised it by now, Sakura. You're in..."

"Hos... pital."

"That's right," the doctor said as he took a bottle of plain water and placed the connecting tube on her lips. "Have a drink. Your throat must be feeling dry."

Nodding slightly, she wrapped her lips around the tube and began sucking the water. As the water filled her mouth, she felt like she had not been drinking for days.

_Again, for days..._

"Do you still remember what had happened?" the doctor asked.

She slowly opened her eyes once more and stared at the doctor with furrowed eyebrows. Of course, she did. She remembered saying goodbye to her friends and schoolmates on the way back home. Then, she had gone to buy rice balls from the convenience store. Whatever had happened after that became hazy.

She spoke softly, "I was walking home from school and I don't remember what happened after I bought my rice balls."

"Where did you buy your rice balls, Sakura?"

"Erin Convenience Store."

"Time?"

"Not sure. Evening?" Her answer became a question instead.

"What happened after you bought the rice balls?"

Her eyes closed again. "I can't remember. Sorry."

"It's okay. Actually... you've met with an accident," the doctor stated as he began to look at her seriously. "Does this ring a bell?"

"No..." Her mind was still trying to piece everything together after knowing that she had met with an accident but she was still confused as to how she had even met it in the first place. "Tell me more about it, Doctor."

She could hear the doctor inhale deeply, which she could tell that whatever he was going to say to her would be bad news. She clenched her fists and waited for him to spill the truth that had taken place...

_For days._

"Two weeks ago, while you were crossing the road, you were hit by a truck," explained the doctor.

Unfazed by his statement, she quietly nodded as she had kind of predicted it. A road accident was not uncommon and feeling how painful her whole body was, the possibility of having met with a road accident was likely, although she did not think that it was a truck that hit her. If it was really a truck that had hit her, then she was lucky.

She felt so blessed to be alive. Feeling pain all over her body was probably a good sign that she was still in a piece.

Or so she thought.

"The truck ran over you..."

"What?" she interrupted him, shocked by his further explanation.

"I mean, to be specific, it ran over your legs."

"What..." her voice quivered.

She felt strange when he had said that. Her body was in pain but she could not move her legs. It felt as if her legs were immobilised or gone. She could not feel them any longer, no pain or numbness. Her nerves must be playing tricks on her. It had to be, she thought to herself, since it was obviously damaged by the impact.

"We couldn't save them."

_No..._

"Because they were badly crushed."

_Stop it..._

"We had no choice but to..."

_Please don't say it!_

"... amputate them."

_Ah..._

A tear rolled down from the corner of her eye as the realisation of her loss hit her really hard. She was not a whole which she had thought she was. She was not lucky after all.

"No wonder..." she mumbled softly, lips shivering as she controlled herself from crying out loud. "I can't feel my legs at all."

"Sakura..."

Plastering her usual smile on her face, she interrupted the doctor again with a request, "I'm sorry, but can I have a short moment to myself? Please give me five minutes to clear my head."

The doctor looked worriedly at her and did not say anything. After a few seconds of silence, he just nodded and told her that he would drop by again in fifteen minutes to check on her condition. Then, he left the ward, giving her some time alone.

As soon as the doctor left, her smile ceased. She bit her upper lip and held her breath. She could not cry. No, she couldn't. If she did, that would not be Mikan Sakura. Mikan Sakura would never cry...

_Not even when she lost two limbs forever._

In moments of adversity, she would continue to smile, keeping her promise to herself, her late parents and everyone whom she called friends and loves ones.

-:-:-:-

Her boyfriend had visit her only once and that was hours after she had regained conscious. Her four friends did not come to see her at all. After six days since she had woken up, she realised that she was actually alone. Where were they when she really needed them?

Knowing that she looked hideous without her legs, she would cover the lower part of her body with a blanket whenever people entered her ward, especially when her boyfriend had come to pay her a visit.

_His first and last visit._

When he had entered the ward, she had expected him to look worried and ask her how she was feeling. However, his reaction was unexpected.

"Mikan... you look different."

She remembered looking away from his stoic face and down at where her legs were supposed to be. Although she had tried to hide the fact they were no longer there with the thick blanket, it was so obvious...

_So obvious that they were gone._

She had tried very hard to control her tears, especially in front of her boyfriend. Even if she had cried at that moment, it would not do her any good. Crying could neither bring back her legs nor help her to regenerate new ones.

She was not perfect to be begin with, yet her boyfriend had always stayed by her side. She had thought that he would continue to love her for who she was despite being crippled. But she was wrong.

All those while, she had always been wrong.

"I'm sorry, Mikan. I can't... I mean, I don't want to feel... burdened. Burdened by you..."

She remembered turning to him and gave him a final smile, telling him that she had understood what he had meant. After that, he had bidden his farewell to her and left the room without saying his favourite 'love you, Mikan' line to her.

She sighed. This love was so childish and so crippled at the same time. Just because she was so different from others, she was rejected. Not only by him, but also by her friends.

She did not mind giving up fencing but she could not live without love. Her friends were so important to her and she thought that all these while she had been smiling for them. But then again, it was all in her head. So, who exactly was she smiling for?

_No one._

No one cared about her to begin with. The love and friendships were all lies. She should have known better than to delude herself thinking that she was actually blessed with all the attention which she had been receiving.

_She wondered..._

"Sakura, how are feeling today?" asked her doctor who had just entered her ward and he placed a tray of gauze and cotton wool on the small table next to the bed.

"Fine," she replied monotonously.

"Where's your smile, Mikan? You look gloomy these days."

_... what their response would be..._

"I don't know, Doctor. I think I've lost it."

The doctor chuckled. "Cheer up, alright? You will be discharged next week when your body has stabilised. I think it is something every child will look forward to."

"That's not true, Doctor." She looked away and lifted her arm towards the doctor, allowing him to clean her huge wound on her elbow. "Not every child will look forward to a new life with two less limbs."

_... if she died._

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><p><strong>Author's Note(s):<strong>

**Hi guys, I'm back with a new fanfic '**Love on the Wheelchair**', breaking my promise with my old readers that I would concentrate on my old fanfics before making new ones (as shown on Chapter 40 of '_I Like You, Natsume-oniisan_'). After realising that I didn't contribute any new fanfic to the GA forum in 2014, I feel the need to write something before 2014 ends to fill up this 'missing' gap in my heart by writing a brand new story which I have been planning for quite some time. This story may not be the best among the other nine fanfics which I have written for the past two years but to me, this story plot has a personal touch which I can't explain here in words. Like '_Love at Last Sign_', this story may carry some meaning which some readers can relate to.**

_**Please take note that this fanfiction is purely fictional.****** Any familiar or similar events in this story are not related to any real life people or events at all. They are purely coincidental.****_

**Anyway, **a simple review is more than welcomed!** I don't mind criticisms but they have to be constructive. Thank you for reading! :)**


	2. 2nd Wheel

**Love on the Wheelchair**

_-2013-_

"Are you asking me whether I think he's cute? If so, of course! I think he's very cute. He's very clever too. So clever that I'm almost blinded by the light bulb above his head."

"Cute? She's not cute at all. Really. Do you need me to explain the meaning of cute to you?"

"In terms of personality, he's shy and doesn't really talk much. But when you get to know him better, he's actually nice to talk to. He's like any person who enjoys talking about chasing butterflies."

"She's the one who always talks a lot but actually... she's quite an introvert. Selectively social, to be exact."

"I agree that I'm selectively social because... ever since I was rejected by my peers, I was changed. But I was changed again by him."

"In fact, she has changed me."

"He made Mondays pastel pink, one of my favourite colours."

"I used to hate Mondays and I didn't know since when I began to look forward to Mondays. It's like... screw you, Monday Blues! I'm going to see her soon."

"Still, I love Mondays. Although he may argue how gay Pink Monday sounds, he will agree with me that Mondays are the best day ever of the week because..."

"Pink Monday sounds so gay. In my opinion, Yellow Monday would definitely sound better because..."

_"We're each other's sunshine."_

* * *

><p>2nd Wheel<p>

_-2003-_

"Take care, Natsume. Have fun in school." His mother placed his books on his personal school desk and smiled at him. "I'm sorry that I can't stay with you in school today. Dad and I have some important stuffs going on at our workplace."

He shook his head which was not obvious if one did not pay attention to his small action, and softly replied, "It's okay."

"I will pick you up after school, okay? You can approach the Special Needs Officers if you need any help."

"Okay."

His mother knitted her eyebrows and stared worriedly at him. Knowing her, she was not the type of person who would want to leave her baby son alone. She just could not trust him to look after himself no matter how old he was. In fact, he could not do much on his own and he knew this. With his disability, he could not be like any normal human being who could move about freely. His life was dependent on his electrical wheelchair and he could not live without it. His wheelchair was his only legs.

"Don't worry, Mum. I can look after myself," he assured. "I must be independent for once."

"Natsume..."

"Go. Dad is waiting in the car."

His mother bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. "Take care."

"Bye."

"Goodbye, Dear."

As soon as he saw his mother step out of the classroom, his eyes sparkled with excitement. It was his first time being independent in school. There was no parent to keep an eye on him either. This was absolute freedom!

His small bony fingers wrapped around the controller and he gently pushed it forward. It was finally time to explore the school alone, which he had not gotten the chance to since his enrollment. He moved past the door and out of the classroom. A classmate of his inside the classroom called him to return to class as it would be a hassle if he got lost, but he did not listen to his classmate. It was a rare chance to obtain such freedom and anyway, it was not like he would be lost easily since he had promised himself that he would not go very far.

He went passed many classroom along the corridor and stopped at the elevator lobby. His eyes narrowed at the button. Even if he was a little stronger, there was no way he could reach the button with such short hands. Whoever had designed the elevator and the lobby layout obviously lacked knowledge on ergonomics or did not take people like him into consideration. Anyway, he was not going to blame them since the elevator was not built solely for him.

Suddenly, someone appeared behind him and he saw a hand reach out and press the button.

"There you go!" A familiar voice came from behind, causing him to stiffen.

A brunette stood next to him and bent her body forward, looking straight into his eyes. Seeing her usual radiant smile on her face, he felt himself melting. He shifted his gaze away from her and remained silent...

As usual.

"Good morning, Hyuuga! Where are you going at this time? Homeroom is starting soon," she asked in a happy tone.

He refused to look at her. Never did he try to look at her directly. Whenever he saw her face, he was reminded that they were from two different worlds. She led a normal life with many good friends while he led a life which was full of peer rejections and scorn. The only people who accepted him for who he was was his parents and the brunette. Despite how weird he was to everybody, this schoolmate of his seemed to disregard his disability and greeted him almost everyday like what she did to everyone else.

The elevator doors slid open and he entered elevator.

The girl took a step inside it and queried, "Which level?"

"Ground."

"Okay! Pressed!" she chimed as she pressed the button which had the numeral '1' shown on it.

Then, she stepped out of the elevator and smiled at him. Lucky for him, the elevator had three large reflective metal panels surrounding him and he could see her smile which he had grown to like over the past five years of his life.

"Bye, Hyuuga!" she said and waved to his reflection in the mirror.

He could feel his heart beat slightly faster as a familiar yet foreign feeling filled his chest. He did not understand why she was treating him so nice, unlike the other children who always avoided him or scorned at him as if he was some monster.

Yes, he was different yet so similar to those children.

He was human. A boy with special need, he was.

"Mikan," a male voice called out, causing him to look in the mirror to see who the person was.

It was a boy. A really handsome one.

He noticed how surprised and happy the brunette looked when she saw the boy. She skipped towards the boy and wrapped her arms around his arm, greeting him and asking him if he had enjoyed his weekend. Before he could hear the boy's reply, the elevator doors closed.

No matter how hard he tried to erase the image of them being together, he still could not ignore the fact that the boy was her boyfriend. A really handsome boyfriend.

-:-:-:-

His father strapped him to his wheelchair and patted his head, saying, "Well done for successfully handling the mouse, Natsume."

He nodded slowly, acknowledging his father's praise. He felt happy for being able to use the mouse the right way after many weeks of occupational therapy. Normally, he would use a specially made equipment which acted like a mouse for the physically disabled whenever he used the computer. However, he wanted to be like other children, being able to do things which they could do, except for things which required gross motor skills.

"Natsume, please stay here for a few minutes. Your daddy has heard a call." His father placed his hand behind his earlobe and hummed. "Who has called me?"

Looking mildly amused, his eyes widened a little and he said to his father, "I wonder."

"Who?"

"I heard nothing, Dad."

"Wrong! It's nature's call."

"Oh." He found himself rolling his eyes at his father's deep joke. "Whatever. Go and answer that call."

His father laughed and patted his head again. "Thanks, son. I'll be right back."

"Big or small business?"

"A rather big one."

"Okay."

When his father hurried off to find the restroom, he started to observe the people around him. He was in the hospital garden where many physically disabled people would hang out and do their therapies together. He stationed himself next to a potted plant and bench so that he could watch how those people with potentially normal legs moved across the two metal waist-height bars with the nurses' support. Just then, a wheelchair slowly moved across his vision. A familiar brunette whom he had not seen in weeks finally appeared before him, hands struggling to push the wheels to move herself forward.

He was stunned. He had heard of her being hospitalised but not to the horrible extent of losing her legs. She looked different; not just physically, but also the air around her. She was no longer the bright sunshine he had known for the past five years. She was not smiling, not greeting random people and was looking very tired. His gut was telling him that she was already dead.

Emotionally dead.

She move past the therapy equipments and out of the garden. Tailing behind her secretly, he saw her stop at the top of a staircase and look down to see whatever was at the bottom of the staircase. His heart was pounding rapidly at the scene before him. He had no idea what she was going to do but he had a bad feeling about this. He saw her taking in a deep breath and her hand gripping tightly onto the wheels. Her arms were trembling and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

She moved backwards a little and as soon as he saw her hands preparing to push the wheel forward, he finally knew what she was going to do next.

"Don't do it..." he muttered in a shaky voice as he quickly moved towards her. "Sakura... don't..."

Apparently, she could not hear him. With a heavy push on her wheels...

"Sakura!"

He panted. After so many years, he had finally shouted. Due to his weak lungs, he could not shout or talk loudly. His chest hurt but that did not matter to him at this moment.

If he could save her, such pain was worth it.

Startled, she held onto the wheel and turned to look at him. Her eyes widened.

"Hyu... Hyuuga... why?" her voice quivered.

"Are you stupid?" he scolded and moved even closer to her. "Do you want to kill yourself badly?"

She furrowed her eyebrows and sniffed hard. She was at the edge of the staircase and that worried him a lot. She might fall at any moment if she made a careless move. Furthermore, she was having difficulty in handling the wheerchair. But he could not blame her for trying to end everything at this instance because he knew how it felt to be different from others.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled.

"Calm down," he said, lifting up his scrawny hand and showing her his tiny fingers. "Move back, okay? It's dangerous. Don't do anything silly."

She shook her head and shouted, "Go away, Hyuuga. You don't understand!"

She jerked forward, causing her wheelchair to move forward as well. He let out a soft gasp.

Oh no, she was going to fall!

"If you continue to be stubborn, I shall scream," he threatened.

"Then, scream!"

He frowned at her. So, she was challenging him. As if he would not dare to scream! He did not care if he screamed until his lungs exploded as long as his voice could hit some sense back to her again. She was never like this. She used to be so bright and so optimistic; he hated to admit it but he had always liked her presence even though he was only a regular schoolmate in her eyes.

"I will scream."

She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly showing her doubt that he would scream due to his weak muscles.

"I will scream and I don't care," he continued. "I don't care if I die screaming... as long as I can stop you... I don't care."

Her eyes wavered at his sudden declaration. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. Upon seeing her tears, he felt bad. He wondered if he had sounded harsh but he assured himself that he had meant well.

"Don't be stupid," she muttered and looked away. "I have nothing left to stay alive. Everyone left me. My friends left me. He left me. What do I have left?"

She turned to him, staring into his eyes with her teary bloodshot ones.

"I have nothing, Hyuuga. Nothing," her voice softened as she said that. "All along... my life... is a lie."

She looked so broken, so vulnerable... that he wanted to embrace her and tell her that he had not left her yet. He wanted to comfort her but he did not know how. He was so afraid that his words would hurt her even more or crush her bitter heart because he had never comfort anyone before.

"You're different," he said, causing her to look at him with a stunned look.

"Ah... I know..." She hung her head low and snorted softly. "Everyone hates the different me. Everyone prefers the old Mikan Sakura who had legs. The new legless Mikan... is entirely a different specie. So different. So abnormal."

"It's true that you're different. But..."

"Enough! Please, Hyuuga, don't say anymore!"

"... that's just physical because you are still Mikan Sakura whom I have known since elementary school."

The brunette looked up, staring at him again but with a confused look.

"No matter how different you are from the past, nothing will change the fact... that you have always been my saviour." He forced a weak smile. "Now, I want to save you, just like how you saved me five years ago... at the school exit gate."

He remembered being ostracised by his schoolmates and had thought that nobody liked him. It was until that moment when she had come up to him and greeted him for the first time, he had finally felt accepted. Since that day, she had been greeting him whenever they crossed paths, whether was it within or outside the campus. Inwardly, he felt happy...

Happy that he was at least recognised by a peer.

The brunette laughed weakly, but in a sarcastic manner. "Are you... stupid? Who would remember such a thing from five years ago? How am I your saviour? It doesn't even make sense!"

"It does!" He frowned at her and tried to lean forward but could not due to the metal implantation on his back. "You wouldn't know how much your words meant to me back then. But of course, you would not know... because you're not me. You don't know my feelings!"

Keeping silent, the brunette turned her head to the other side to hide her embarrassment. Of course, she would not know his feelings. All along he was just a peer, a very special peer who was physically different, to her. She did not know that a simple action of hers like greeting could mean so much to a person, especially to him.

Her trembling hands that were still holding onto the wheels pushed backward, causing herself to move backward as well. Then, she turned to face him with her head hung low.

"I must be pathetic, right? Thinking that suicide is the only option," she muttered as more tears began to fill her eyes.

Feeling slightly relieved that she had finally retreated, he replied softly in a monotone, "No, you're just immature."

"What?" Her head jolted upwards and she glared at him with teary eyes. "I'm not immature!"

He crooked his eyebrow and said, "Only people who are immature tend to forget that there are still other people, at least someone, who hold them dear in their hearts."

She stared at him, looking stunned for a brief moment and bashful in the next moment. He saw a blush creep to her cheeks as she began to look away, hiding her face from him.

"Th... Thank you... Hyu... Hyuuga."

Her voice was so soft yet it sounded so sincere. He gave her a small smile. Upon seeing her still-tearing eyes, he had an urge to wipe the tears away for her. However, he could not. If only he was born normal, he would do it for her.

"Natsume!"

He flinched slightly. Oh no, he had forgotten about his father!

He immediately rotated the controller and his wheelchair turned to face the direction of where he had heard his father's voice had come from. He saw his father jog towards him while panting heavily. Feeling so bad for making his poor father look for him in this huge therapy garden, he decided to make a sheepish look on his face and pretend that he was chasing butterflies. He would then tell his father his fabricated story on his butterfly adventure.

But there was a problem.

That girl was still crying!

He pushed the controller forward and moved his wheelchair towards his father. He could tell a simple lie and everything would be fine. His father would not have to get the wrong idea that his 'un-gentlemanly' son had made a girl cry.

"Hyuuga!" He heard the girl's voice calling out to him from behind. "Goodbye!"

He stopped. Like always, he would stop and treasure those final words of the day which came directly from her mouth. He wanted to laugh normally, telling her that this would never be their goodbye as long as they could still see each other the following day or week. Their final goodbye had yet to come, and he knew it.

Lastly, he wanted to tell her one thing which he found so embarrassing to say it openly.

_'Get well soon, Sakura.'_

Instead, like always, he left her without saying a word.

* * *

><p><strong>I didn't expect to receive more than ten reviews for this story! Unlike my other fanfics, this story is quite deep and has less drama. Anyway, thank you for reviewing, favouriting and following this story! Thanks for all the encouragement and support as well!<strong>

**Special thanks to the reviewers:**

**- StarElsie:** _But things will get better as the story goes. :)_  
><strong>- Dwmalove:<strong> _I kind of predicted that my readers would mistake the boyfriend as Natsume at first, but nope, Natsume is way better than that boyfriend in this story. ;)_  
><strong>- AeLi'S LaNd Of DrEaMs:<strong> _No, I should be the one thanking you for reading and reviewing this story. I hope you like this new chapter! :D_  
><strong>- Eka19:<strong> _Yup, it's a chaptered story. Thank you for reviewing! ^ ^_  
><strong>- YoshidaHaru:<strong> _Thanks for reviewing. I will do my best in making the future chapters more interesting too! :)_  
><strong>- Stayuplate:<strong> _Sure, thanks! :)_  
><strong>- AnimeMango:<strong> _Thank you! I hope you like the 2nd chapter! :)_  
><strong>- AiramEnayle:<strong> _I think by this chapter, you would roughly know the answers to the questions you asked me before. I am not going to give any spoiler, but all I can say that the third chapter will definitely answer your questions in a not-so-subtle way. ;)_  
><strong>- Guest:<strong> _It will be a chaptered story but... this story will have less than 10 chapters._  
><strong>- sweet little:<strong> _I agree that it is sad but I am sure there are people out there who experience such horrible things in their lives. Thanks for reviewing! :)_  
><strong>- Metallic Snow:<strong> _Thank you! ^ ^_


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